FBI says it’s probing Texas shooting for terror links
Suspect was fatally shot by police officers in Plano
PLANO, Texas – Investigators are looking into whether a Texas man was inspired by foreign terrorists when he killed a Lyft driver in a Dallas suburb and later opened fire in the police station of another suburb where officers fatally shot him.
Police said Imran Ali Rasheed ordered a Lyft in his home city of Garland Sunday then fatally shot the driver, Isabella Lewis. Her stolen car was found a short time later outside the police station in the neighboring community of Plano, where Rasheed began shooting in the lobby before being shot by officers, police chiefs in both cities said at a Monday news conference.
Matthew DeSarno, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Dallas office, said investigators believe Rasheed acted alone but that the 33-year-old left a letter indicating he “may have been inspired by a foreign terrorist organization.” He did not offer more specifics on the letter and declined to identify the Rasheed group.
DeSarno said Rasheed was the subject of a counterterrorism investigation from 2010 to 2013, when the case was closed after agents determined Rasheed did not currently pose a threat. The agency’s regional terrorism task force is working on the investigation of Lewis’ killing, he said.
Authorities said there was no known connection between Lewis and Rasheed and it’s unclear why he went to the Plano Police Department. “We have no idea why he came to Plano to find police officers,” said the city’s police chief, Ed Drain.
Rasheed died of his injuries at a hospital later Sunday, Drain said. The officers’ shooting of him is being investigated in cooperation with the Collin County District Attorney’s Office, he said.